Latest Contributions by SimonKettle

Importing data from a spreadsheet There has been an increase in queries regarding the import of coordinate values from spreadsheets into ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Pro. With that in mind, find a checklist that hopefully will encourage, when dealing with this type of data, the understanding of coordinate values, their implications of how they are managed and the relationship to coordinate reference systems in ArcGIS software. Check List Check coordinates are in the order you expect (e.g. Lat/Long or Long/Lat or X, Y; Y, X and W, E; -X, -Y etc) Check there are no NULLs or other errors Check for NULLS, text not number, unrealistic precision, outliers… Confirm the coordinates make sense (e.g. if you are working with Arctic DMS coordinates a negative latitude value should be a red flag for you) Check you know the units  Latitude and Longitude are angles therefore = Geographic Coordinate System XY coordinates (e.g. meters) are linear measurements therefore = Projected Coordinate System Convert the data you have into a workable format (e.g. DMS to DD = D + (m/60) + (s/3600) with additional formulae including the consideration of negation per hemisphere) Check you know the correct coordinate reference system Find a reference for the data that explicitly says the CRS If you can't find one then beare in mind the following: Commonly but not always, global datasets are in WGS84 (possibly because GPS utilises WGS84) Typically but not always, linear units will be in a UTM projection If you really do not know the correct CRS Try not to guess – there’s a lot of CRS out there Go back to source they might know but didn’t include the relevant information in the data Based on the coordinate values try to place the data in a region/country and look for the most relevant CRS for that region If you had to make an educated guess say so in any metadata so no one is fooled and makes an important decision on the information later Loading data to a map (ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap) Make sure Map Document data frame for ArcMap is blank (in ArcGIS Pro map properties the default is Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere) Assign the correct CRS to Map Document/Map Add data to Map Document/Map Check against base map and data where location is known This blog has not accounted for additional items like transformations but it should act as a checklist of things to look out for when bringing data in from a spreadsheet. ... View more

I am currently accessing the metadata styles that could be implemented within a company's GIS. After reading the metadata standards on the ISO Website for ISO 19115 and some of the presentations given my ESRI at past events (e.g. presentation) I understand that this area has been progressive in recent years and some of the styles in ArcGIS Desktop are now outdated. For example, North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 profile is now superseded by ISO 19115-1:2014 (e.g. status of ISO 19115:2003). Are these newer metadata styles going to be included as metadata styles one can select in ArcGIS Desktop (Map 10.6 and Pro 2.2 and beyond) or do we need to manually use the ArcGIS Metadata Toolkit to customise the ArcGIS metadata editor? ... View more

In Windows explorer you can Map a Network Drive (e.g. GIS Info (\\myserver\ggspatial\Folder) (Z:)) and also add a Network Location to Windows Explorer (a link direct to a folder in a network drive). However, in ArcGIS Pro when I try to add a new folder connection to my project I cannot view my network locations (i.e. locations on the drive that are available with a folder icon in Windows Explorer) Can ESRI add the functionality to ArcGIS Pro to recognise Network Folder Locations set up in Windows Explorer when adding a new folder connection to a project? ... View more

The UK Government put out a call for feedback on their first National Geospatial Strategy document. You can find this attached. In this document there are various questions they are looking for feedback on.  This is the first question refers to definitions. The definitions of Geospatial Data: 1. Geospatial data: Information where place is a key feature of its source and/or purpose for which it is used. 2. Positional data: Groups of individual datasets that usually have location as a secondary purpose, and which describes activity or physical assets grounded in a particular place. 3. Geospatial identifiers: Data that provides the means of anchoring positional data to core geospatial data. 4. Geospatial services: Higher-level insights and products, often involving layers of various types of spatial information. Q1 Is our view [the Geospatial Commission] of the geospatial data types accurate, if not what should be included or excluded from this? Any thoughts? Lets discuss below.... ... View more